Homework

We have given considerable thought to ‘homework’ at Clawton and after speaking to some parents, children and staff we are happy to present to you what ‘home learning’ will look like this year for your child.

 

Homework is often a dreaded activity – for both children and parents alike! There have been many debates over the years around whether homework should feature in a primary setting and at Clawton we have agreed the following;

 

• Keeping parents and carers informed about their child’s learning is good practice.

• Parent involvement helps extend teaching outside the classroom, creates a more positive experience for children and helps children perform better when they are in school.

• Sharing strategies and techniques that are being applied in the classroom with parents keeps them up to date with their children’s learning and supports them in being able to interact and engage with it.

• Reading is a vital life skill and reading a book with your child is fun - it's a time for closeness, laughing and talking together. It can also give children a flying start in life and help them become lifelong readers. Reading should be encouraged outside of school as much as possible.

• Schools should give children the opportunity to consolidate and extend learning at home and support parents in being a part of this. They have a professional duty to provide children with the chance to continue their learning in the home environment with their parents and carers.

• Children in Year 5 and 6 must be ready to transition to secondary school and as homework is a key feature in secondary education, we have a duty to prepare them for this.

 

With all this in mind, we also believe that playing, being a member of a group like Scouts or Brownies, sport, adventuring, spending time with family and friends, visiting the park, looking after a pet, playing an instrument, being part of a team or having out of school interests like horse-riding or bike riding are absolutely vital to a child’s development and hugely support their learning journey.

 

We do not want home learning to stop any of these activities that your child might be taking part in but we are committed to supporting your child both in school and at home in their learning so we will be sending home an outline of your child’s learning each week so that you and they have the opportunity to spend time home learning.

 

Each class teacher will provide all children with a Home Learning Journal and inside there will be a run-down of the learning that has taken place each week. Any strategies that have been taught in class will be provided to support parents understanding along with ideas for how the learning can be consolidated or extended. Children can then choose which areas they feel they need to work on and can use the journal to record any practice, research or other work that they do.

 

It will not be necessary to ‘complete’ everything that is shared. As a school, we feel that parents should have a clear overview of learning so that they can select suitable and necessary activities for their children to do at home which should be linked to targets that teachers set.

 

The journal can be used to record any home learning and should be given in to the teacher the following week for them to review and add a new weekly overview to.

 

We hope that by sharing your child’s learning with you, it will help you to feel included in their school life and make home learning experiences positive and rewarding.